Parl. supports gov’t to impose taxes on Facebook, Google advertisers

CAIRO – 23 June 2018: Parliament member John Talaat, deputy head of the Communications and Information Technology Committee, affirmed Friday the Parliament’s support to drafting a legislation that imposes taxes on advertising companies, such as Google and Facebook.

Talaat added in a statement to Egypt Today that international companies advertise their products on social media websites, noting that some countries, including Germany and Netherland, have issued laws to regulate this process and impose taxes on advertising companies.

Total advertising in the UK managed to grow by 4.6 percent to record £22.2 billion ($30.6 billion) in 2017, according to the latest report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK and PwC.

Although digital advertisements grew by 14.3 percent to record £11.55 billion in 2017, a scant amount of that spent went to national and regional news websites and magazines; journalism is getting an ever-shrinking slice of the advertising pie.

The report has shown that digital giants Google and Facebook have both dominated the advertising market; Google alone takes an average 90 percent of UK search advertising, making at least £5bn on this in the UK.

According to the report, display advertising comprises £3.95 billion of total UK advertising; Facebook is considered to be the biggest player when it comes to online display advertising in the UK, making an excess of £1 billion.

This report was issued a year after Press Gazette, a British media trade magazine, launched its “Duopoly” campaign to stop Google and Facebook from monopolizing the market and destroying journalism.

Talaat also added that taxes will be imposed on advertising companies that utilizes social media platforms to their benefits, considering that there are no offices to represent international social media platforms in Egypt. He affirmed that this move would generate billions for the country.